Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in B.C. on Tuesday for the first time since approving a new $6.8-billion heavy oil pipeline to Burnaby, said he respects the rights of opponents to vigorously protest the project.

But Trudeau also cautioned critics — some of whom, including Green party leader Elizabeth May, have threatened to engage in civil disobedience — to keep their protests within the parameters of Canadian law.

“I understand how strongly people feel about this issue,” he said during an hour-long interview with The Vancouver Sun and The Province.

He said his government is balancing its controversial approval of the Kinder Morgan expansion — which would increase crude oil tanker traffic through Burrard Inlet from five to 34 vessels a month — with measures he hopes will ease concerns about the environment and public safety. They include the recently announced deal with the provinces to bring in a national price on carbon, a $1.5-billion initiative to improve coastal safety, and a plan to protect the Orca whale.

“Is that going to convince everyone?” he asked.

He answered “no” to his own question, then acknowledged that opponents will “push as much as they can” to stop the company once it starts construction next autumn.

“But we’re a country of rule of law. We’re a country where we have processes for consultations. We have regular elections. We have ways of protesting to make your feelings heard, and that is all par for the course and that will happen.

“And that is something that is important in our national discourse as a country.”

Trudeau also made a statement about the notion of “social licence” that contrasted sharply with his message before the 2015 federal election. During that campaign he stated repeatedly that while governments had the right to grant permits, only local communities — including First Nations — are able to “grant permission.”

That mantra was adopted by Liberal MPs like Terry Beech, who campaigned against the project in 2015 in Burnaby North-Seymour. Since getting elected he has stated bluntly that his community, including First Nations living in the riding, are clearly opposed.

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But Trudeau, whose government earlier this year adopted a United Nations resolution recognizing the right of Aboriginal groups to “free, prior and informed consent” on economic projects in their territories, said Ottawa doesn’t recognize the unconditional right of First Nations to unilaterally block projects.

“No, they don’t have a veto,” he said of the three major Metro Vancouver nations — the Musqueam, Squamish and Tseil-Waatuth — who oppose Kinder Morgan.

He noted there are dozens of First Nations along the route in both B.C. and Alberta that support the project and have signed more than $300 million in economic benefit agreements.

Harold Munro, editor of The Vancouver Sun and The Province, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pose for a photo after Trudeau was presented with photos taken by Vancouver Sun photographer Randy Thomas when Trudeau was a child.RICHARD LAM /
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If Kinder Morgan can overcome court challenges and threatened protests, the new line — to triple capacity to 890,000 barrels a day — will begin shipping in late 2019.

— On B.C.’s opioid overdose crisis, the PM said his government isn’t ready — yet — to embrace notions such as the legalization of drugs like heroin as a way of lowering the number of deaths.

“I’m certainly not philosophically or ideologically opposed to something that’s going to work to save lives,” he said. “But I do know there’s still more work to be done both on public awareness and on determining how best to help people.”

— While acknowledging that his late father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, once lowered immigration levels in the 1970s in the face of a weakened economy, he said he plans to boost immigration above its current level of around 300,000 — the highest since before the First World War — in order to boost the economy.

— On the “cash-for-access” controversy, Trudeau showed no hint he is backing down from his party’s policy of holding $1,500-a-head party fundraisers where rich party supporters can discuss policy with him.

He said there is “total accountability” to Canadians because donors are required to report their party-funding activities to Elections Canada. (He failed to note that the federal agency does not require donors to declare whether they gave money as part of a private social gathering of wealthy Canadians.)

Trudeau also expressed exasperation that the media and opposition MPs have accused him of giving special access to the wealthy.

“I find it humorous,” he said, noting the frequent town hall meetings and media interviews he does in order to communicate with all Canadians.

“Being in general someone people deride as the ‘Selfie prime minister’ because I spend so much time meeting people, and then to be told that we’re inaccessible as a government?”

— He said his government, if it is still in power following the 2019 election, will ensure B.C. isn’t disadvantaged in the carbon pricing plan even though Victoria taxes carbon in a different way than Ontario and Quebec.

“We’re going to make sure the impact and effectiveness and stringency is equivalent right across the country, and we’ll make the adjustments necessary” as the carbon tax ramps up to $50 a tonne by 2022.

— He acknowledged that former Progressive Conservative PM Brian Mulroney, a personal friend of Donald Trump, is using his influence to convince the incoming administration to appreciate the value of free trade between the two countries.

“He has been using his connections with the Republican party in the U.S. to promote Canada, to point out that Canada is the number 1 export destination of 35 American states.”

— Trudeau said oil pipelines are an integral part of the federal Liberal government’s Pan-Canadian Framework on fighting climate change.

“A key part of our climate emissions reductions … was putting a national price on carbon and Alberta’s plan to put an absolute cap on oilsands emissions. Our plan to reach our Paris emissions targets folds in that cap on oilsands emissions.

“Regardless of whether or not we build pipelines there is going to be further development in the oilsands. What we need to make sure we are doing is that we are keeping it efficient, we are keeping it responsible environmentally and we are preventing it from going above that cap,” Trudeau answered.

“Putting in a pipeline is a way of preventing oil by rail, which is more dangerous and more expensive … The pipelines are very much integrated into our Pan-Canadian framework on fighting climate change.”

— Earlier Tuesday, during a tour of a Canadian Coast Guard tug in Vancouver, Trudeau announced two emergency towing vessels — that were promised as part of a federal plan to protect Canada’s oceans — will operate on the West Coast.

The towing vessels, which will help the coast guard tow large commercial ships that are in distress and pose a hazard to navigation and the marine environment, were announced in November as part of the federal government’s $1.5 billion Oceans Protection Plan.

“Both of these vessels will operate on Canada’s West Coast and help to keep large disabled vessels off B.C.’s pristine coasts,” Trudeau said in a news release.

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